Southampton Winger Nathan Redmond has defended Pep Guardiola on Thursday night over the Manchester City manager’s heated discussion with the Southampton forward.

Nathan Redmond insisted he had no problem with the way the Manchester city manager aggressively confronted him at the end of City’s dramatic late 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesda

And Redmond, who angrily ridiculed one newspaper claims that Guardiola had called him a “w—–”, said the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach had told him “how he wanted me to attack his team more during the game in a similar way to last season” when Southampton drew 1-1 at the Etihad.

Redmond said he had responded by telling Guardiola “I was doing what my manager [Mauricio Pellegrino] had asked me to do in the game”.

That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing negative or offensive was said towards me from Pep and that’s what makes him one of the best managers in world football.”

Redmond posted the statement in response to an article published on the Sun’s website, which featured a lip reader claiming Guardiola had called Redmond a “wanker” and had accused him of “taking me for a mug”. A Manchester City spokesperson disputed the lip reader’s claims.

“I want to make it absolutely clear Pep Guardiola did not say what the Sun is falsely claiming in this story,” Redmond said. “Yes he was very passionate, intense and aggressive but he was only very complimentary and positive to me.

“Losing the game the way we did in the last kick of the game after working so hard for 90-plus minutes, I was very disappointed. But when one of the world’s best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen.”